Irish start-up Soundwave bought out by Spotify

Global streaming company Spotify has bought Irish music startup Soundwave for an undisclosed sum.

The deal puts the hugely successful Dublin company founded in 2012 at the centre of the music industry as streaming services become increasingly popular.

Spotify’s takeover is the culmination of the hard work the founders and their team have put into developing their product since its launch, according to chief technical officer, Aidan Sliney.

“Everyone involved is very proud of the announcement. It’s an accumulation of two or three years of hard work. Being acquired was never really a main goal of the company but after many conversations with Spotify it became clearer and clearer that it was a good deal for all involved. The deal really didn’t take that long to complete,” Mr Sliney said.

Sliney and co-founders, fellow Cork native and chief executive Brendan O’Driscoll and Dublin-born Craig Watson have grown the company to a level that exceeded their own expectations despite their belief they could make it one of the world’s most popular apps.

The technology which tracks the music that users are listening to in real time and allows them to chat with and share songs has garnered praise from a range of industry leaders.

Among them is American serial investor Mark Cuban whose net worth is estimated to be €2.75bn and former U2 manager Paul McGuinness.

Its policy of partnering with streaming services like Spotify has now paid off with the Swedish giant making Soundwave an offer it couldn’t refuse. The news has been welcomed by the NDRC accelerator programme which was an early investor in the company, and Enterprise Ireland.